OK, maybe not medieval, but darned old anyway. At least the whistle I’m talking about has no plastic fipple. The whistle is all brass and the fipple plug is made of some extremely soft metal. And I mean soft, you can make a scratch to it with your fingernail.
Now, the question is, how old is this instrument? Since Generation doesn’t have a site at all (except maybe some secret site that no-one knows about, including Google) I reckon this is the best forum to try and find more info about the whistle.
More about the whistle: it is quite well in tune with itself and the key is somewhere between Eb and E (strange, indeed!) and it is not tunable. Because of the age and patina I can’t tell what key it is supposed to be in. The Generation logo is worn out, but I can clearly see the rough shape quite similar to the current logo shape and some letters that confirm me that it is a Generation after all.
If you know anything, please share it with us all!
Yeah, it is a decal of a kind. At first I thought it was some red stain somebody has painted on it (who could imagine a Gen without plastic?) but when I looked at it closer, couple of letters were barely visible and the shape of the logo/ensemble was vaguely recognisable. It is definitely not a sticker. There is no band whatsoever attached to the whistle body.
I can’t tell you the timing with any certainty, but I do have an idea of the sequence of models of Generation whistles.
The oldest Generations are similar to many whistles, most notably distributed by Barnett Samuel (and later Barnett Samuel and Son), Joseph Wallis and others, starting in the early to mid-nineteenth century, with a cylindrical brass (sometimes nickel plated) tube and crimped, lead filled mouthpiece. The Generations of this type, I believe don’t go back as far as the Barnett Samuel, etc. versions. I think the Generations of that type may possibly date back to the turn of the twentieth century or maybe only as far back as the teens, but that’s only a guess.
The next model of Generations have the same construction (crimped, lead filled mouthpiece), but instead of an embossed metal emblem, they have a red, gold and black decal similar to the one Generation uses now.
The next model of Generations are the first that have a plastic mouthpiece. These were updated in the early 1980’s to the current model.
I would guess that your whistle was made sometime between the 1930’s and the 1950’s. That’s only a guess because, except for the transition from the first injection molded plastic mouthpieces to the present model, I don’t have a clear notion of the dates corresponding to the transitions from one model to the next.
So it is a Gen after all. Now that Generation is the best-known whistle brand, how come there is no site like generationwhistles.com or anything like that at all. I mean how do these cheapie whistles come to retailers, someone’s gotta make them in the first place.
The history and evolution of Generation whistles is IMHO an essential part of this whole tin whistle culture as it is nowadays. If anybody knows an URL where there is history of Generations (with pics, please), come out of your closet and tell it! The world deserves to know (^_^)
How have those of you who know (Jerry) gained this info ypu have??
Another question: it seems to me that the fipple plug is not made out of gold it looks more like lead to me, so what is the best way to coat it with, since I don’t want to mess around with it now that the sound is just fine as it is?
it looks more like lead to me, so what is the best way to coat it with, since I don’t want to mess around with it now that the sound is just fine as it is?